Working Families Party Endorses Clinton

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addressed a large crowd at West Philadelphia High School Tuesday in a get-out-the-vote effort. (Jessica Kourkounis / Getty Images)

The Working Families party, the progressive third-party that overwhelmingly backed Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary, has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.

"Working Families Party members across the nation and in Connecticut are fully committed to defeating Trump in November," said Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Connecticut Working Families Party. "That's why the national Working Families Party has voted to endorse Hillary Clinton."

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Farrell said Clinton wouldn't appear on the Working Families Party ballot line in Connecticut though, as the group was focusing its efforts on supporting progressives running for seats in the state legislature. Last week a handful of Democrats backed by the party were successful in primary challenges.

In the past legislative session the party lobbied for a bill that would have required large, corporate employers like Wal-Mart to pay their employees $15 an hour or be charged a fee by the state.

During the presidential primary 87 percent of party members voted to endorse Sanders, the U.S. senator from Vermont who waged a hard-fought primary against Clinton. In Connecticut his campaign shared space with the Working Families Patty offices in Hartford.

The Working Families Party said Tuesday that 68 percent of its members had voted to endorse Clinton.

"WFP was an early, enthusiastic supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign," Dan Cantor, the party's national director, said in a statement. "He demonstrated the deep hunger of millions of Americans for a "political revolution" — a radical restoration of democracy and participation, an end to the oligarchic power of a wealthy elite, and a new era of economic, racial and climate justice."

"But elections are about choices," he continued. "And when we wake up on November 9th, either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will have been elected President. We choose Secretary Clinton, as Bernie did. We make this announcement knowing we'll need to work to hold her accountable to her campaign's promises. But we need to elect her first."